Kidney cysts

[samson308]

I recently had a MRI.  In the process of checking on a problem I was having ,the MRI showed a cysts on my right kidney.  My doctor was not concern said it was a high probablity that it would not give me any trouble. He said we would watch it and to come back in 3mo.  I research on line and felt pretty good about it being a simple cyst.  My biggest concern was the size it was 10cm.  In reading about cysts most articles said that a high percentage of ladies over 50 have these and they are usually found incendently.  However most articles said it can become a problelm if it is too large. What is too large?  Ten cm seems large to me. I am a 61 year old lady in good health.

[Rowena Santos, MD]

Hi ma’am,

How are you? Simple kidney cysts become more common as people age.  Up to 50 percent of people older than 50 years of age have kidney cysts.   How large the cyst is relative and depends on the built and structure of the person involved. For as long as you do not experience pain on the side, in the belly or back, fever, frequent urination or blood in the urine, it is not of concern. Your cyst is small and you may not need treatment. However, your doctor might check the cyst size again with a scan or MRI after some time just to see if the cyst is growing.

I hope this helps. Take care and please do update us.

[Dr_Aparna]

Hi,
As people get older, sacs filled with fluid can form in the kidneys. These sacs are called "cysts." They are usually small oval or round thin-walled sacs with watery fluid in them.
Kidney cysts are almost always benign (not cancer). Usually, the cysts don't cause any problems. In fact, people can go through life without even knowing that they have them.
Up to 50 percent of people older than 50 years of age have kidney cysts.
If you're not having any of those problems and your kidney cyst is small, you may not need any treatment. Your doctor might want to check the cyst again with a CT scan in 6 to 12 months.
If you start having problems, your doctor might want you to have a CT or MRI scan of your kidney to see if the cyst is growing. Remember that most people with kidney cysts never have problems and never need extra CT scans.
Most kidney cysts are harmless and don't need to be removed.
ref:http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/common/kidney/653.html.

[Lori707]

I've had simple cysts for a long time now and have been watching them. Then about a year ago, more developed and one on my liver. I'm not concerned about the simple cysts but I am concerned about just how many of these would grow. I don't want them to take over my kidney. A couple months ago, I had an ultrsound without contrast and they found a minimal complex cyst: 17 x 14 x 20. They want me to follow up with another ultrasound in a month. I looked on the web and learned that "complex" cysts, depending what stage, can be or is a kidney cancer. In this instance, I don't want to hear "Let's just watch it". I want to be more aggresive (aggressive) and get a Cat Scan with contrast to see what's happening inside of this cyst since the ultrasound can't seem to pick it up. I find that docs don't want to perscribe too many procedures due to the fact that they have to answer to the insurance companies. My doc said again "no"..just the ultrasound. If this complex cyst is in the slightest questionable, then it doesn't belong there and I want it out. What am I waiting for?  It's scary when you have to fight with your doctor to be preventative.